Before Daniele Carsano opened his bar, the storefront at 2 Orinda Theatre Square, Suite 106, was a Starbucks, a morning-coffee business. Now it's Sorso, an Italian small-plates and cocktail bar. It opens at 4 p.m., and on Fridays and Saturdays its bar is listed as open until midnight. Carsano lives in Orinda, and he told Bay Area Telegraph he wanted to "give residents an excuse to stay in Orinda."

Put Sorso's listed hours next to everyone else's at Theatre Square and the real change becomes clear. Mostly it adds time. Most of the square's kitchens are listed as closing somewhere between 7 and 9:30 p.m. Sorso's bar keeps going for hours after that, so the space that used to serve the first stop of the day now serves the last one.

How Late Theatre Square Stays Open

These are the listed closing times at Theatre Square, based on each business's own site or its Theatre Square directory page. Hours change, so check before you head out.

1. Kibi's Café, Vietnamese café food, listed until 7 p.m.
2. Petra Café, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern, listed daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
3. Shelby's, a California bistro, serves dinner 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. On Mondays it's done by 3 p.m.
4. Comelones Tacos, Jalisco-meets-California cooking with vegetarian and halal options, listed daily until 8:30 p.m.
5. Saffron, North Indian food with tandoori chicken among its specialties, listed until 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 p.m. on Sunday and 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
6. The Fourth Bore, craft beer, cocktails and pub food, listed until 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.
7. Sorso, listed 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday. The bar stays open until midnight on Friday and Saturday.

The Fourth Bore's weekend hours are the one listing that doesn't add up. Its own website promotes weekend live music, but its Theatre Square directory page shows Friday and Saturday as closed. Call before you plan a Friday night around it.

Read in that order, the list shows the gap Sorso fills. On a Saturday, Saffron's listed closing time is 9:30 p.m. Sorso's bar runs two and a half hours past that. After a late movie or a long dinner, the next drink can now be on the same square.

What Sorso Pours, and What It Puts on the Plate

Carsano calls Sorso an Italian tapas bar: cocktails, wine and small plates for sharing, including seafood crudos, pressed sandwiches and Italian finger foods. When it opened, Diablo magazine also mentioned oysters and other raw-bar items, plus pizza al padellino, the small pan-baked pizza. That's what was announced at launch. Menus at new places tend to change in the first few months, so treat it as a starting point.

Small plates matter more here than they might seem. A tapas menu suits an evening with more than one stop. Order a crudo and a cocktail before a 6:30 show, then come back for a second round after the credits, and nobody has to plan a whole dinner around it. A customer review collected on MapQuest from Yelp says the place has been busy since it opened. The review isn't dated, though, and Patch's Sept. 23 opening date was announced ahead of time, so we can't confirm the exact first night.

During the day, Theatre Square already had a newer anchor. Shemroon Cafe, a Persian-style cafe from chef Shabnam Ameli, opened on Oct. 26, 2025. In January, Lamorinda Weekly listed its hours as 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Within about a year, the square has picked up a new place for breakfast and lunch and a new place for late evening.

Saturday, Oct. 10: The Square Is Packed and Sorso Is Closed

The new evening schedule gets its first real test on Saturday, Oct. 10. Three things happen on or next to the square that night, and one of them runs against the other two.

4:30 to 7 p.m.: Mixology. The Lamorinda Arts Council takes over Theatre Square for its yearly cocktail competition. Up to 18 bartenders compete for Mixologist of the Year, Top Amateur, Audience Favorite and the Art of Staging award, with more than $1,000 in prizes. This year there's no expert panel. Council president Sue Farmer said, "This year we decided to have the audience be the only judges." The $85 ticket includes food from Casa Orinda, whose fried chicken is a local favorite, plus Saffron and The Fourth Bore. A $135 patron ticket adds a $50 donation to the council and a cocktail kit with two infused salts and sugars. A flash mob led by Joy in Motion is also on the schedule. Tickets and details are at LamorindaArts.org/mixology.

6:30 p.m.: "Bea Arthur: The Documentary." The Orinda Theatre screens the film, followed by a Q&A with producer Dan Watt. According to The Orinda News, the film won't be on streaming services until 2027.

All evening: Sorso is closed. The bar's website says it's closed for a private event on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Mixology ends at 7 p.m. and the screening starts half an hour earlier, so if you want both, you'll have to leave the competition early. After the Q&A, the square's newest late-night spot won't be open. Saffron's listed Saturday closing time of 9:30 p.m. is the safest bet for dinner after the film. If you'd rather skip the crowd, the second screening is Sunday, Oct. 11, at 1:15 p.m., also with a Q&A from Watt.

The Rest of October, by Time of Day

Once you know how late the square stays open, the rest of the month is easier to plan. Here's the October calendar sorted by when each event happens and what's open on the square around it.

A few of these line up well with the new hours. Maye is a jazz and cabaret singer making her first Orinda appearance, and she told The Orinda News she was "very excited to be coming to Orinda." Her show starts at 5 p.m. on a Sunday, and Sorso is listed as open until 9 p.m. that night, so you can head over afterward. The Rotary fundraiser on Oct. 30 runs until 10 p.m. On a Friday that's two hours before Sorso's bar is listed to close, which makes the square a possible last stop on Halloween weekend.

The Saturday farmers' market works the other way. It's open year-round, and current vendors include Afghan Dumplings, California Bakeshop, Donna's Tamales and LemonDrop Mocktails. The market wraps up at 1 p.m. Sorso opens at 4, so a Saturday in Orinda can now run from a morning on Orinda Way to a late drink on the square without leaving town.

Where the Evening Ends Now

Over the past year, Theatre Square has added Shemroon for the daytime and Sorso for late evening. Most of the square's kitchens are still listed as closing by 9:30 p.m. Sorso's weekend bar is now listed until midnight, in a storefront that used to sell morning coffee. On Oct. 10, the one night it's closed, Saffron's 9:30 p.m. listing is the latest confirmed dinner option after the film.

If you're trying out Sorso this month, or wondering how a busier downtown is changing your corner of Orinda, I'm happy to talk through it, whether that means what the shift means for your home's value or just which block is easiest to walk from. Ask Cameron at Chatterton Homes Group for a free home valuation and a no-pressure conversation about the neighborhood.